Tag: film shoot

The cover of the News-Review the week Kalila Taylor was arrested in 1997.

Two unrelated documentaries — one about a 1990s murder, the other about the Riverhead Raceway — are being filmed in Riverhead this month.

This week, a production crew is on location in Riverhead to film an episode for the 11th season of Oxygen’s true crime series “Snapped,” a show that chronicles women who commit violent crimes. The episode will focus on Kalila Taylor, the Riverhead woman who in 1996 stabbed and killed fellow Riverhead High School student Curtisha Morning.

Last week, a production crew from Gigantic Pictures was in town to film segments for “Blunderbust,” a documentary about the history of Riverhead Raceway.

NEWS-REVIEW FILE PHOTO | Riverhead raceway is the subject of a new documentary filming this month.

Donna Dudek, the supervising producer of “Snapped,” said she first became familiar with the Riverhead case through a Google Alert that popped up on her phone during Ms. Taylor’s murder retrial last year.

Prosecutors argued that Ms. Taylor stabbed Ms. Morning more than 90 times in a jealous rage over the attention of Ms. Taylor’s boyfriend. Ms. Morning’s body was found a month later in the woods near the school.

Ms. Taylor had been convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, but the case was thrown out due to incorrect instructions given to the jury by the presiding judge. In August 2012, Ms. Taylor’s case was retried and she was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

“We’re very interested in what makes people tick,” Ms. Dudek said of her television show. “We’re all amateur psychologists, I think. I think it’s always a little more surprising when women kill, and I think some of the motives women have are very different to the motives men have.”

The television crew, Ms. Dudek said, plans to film footage of Riverhead High School, the neighborhood Ms. Taylor lived in and the woods where Ms. Morning’s body was found during its eight-day shoot. She hopes to interview Ms. Taylor’s friends and family for the show.

“The episode is about her, so it’s important to us that we’re able to give her side of the story,” Ms. Dudek said.

The red-band trailer, which was released yesterday, includes two quick scenes filmed at a Riverhead potato barn and a town water district property that were converted to look like 1960s gas stations last March.

The first Riverhead location seen in the trailer is the potato barn on Northville Turnpike which comes on screen at the 1:11 mark as seen in the photo above.

The water district property at the intersection of Northville Turnpike and County Road 105 is featured 1:26 into the trailer.

(You can watch the full trailer here. Warning: the trailer has been rated R for strong language and sexual references.)

The movie, a period piece about a folk singer set in 1961, features movie stars such as John Goodman of the “Big Lebowski,” Justin Timberlake of “The Social Network,” and Carey Mulligan, who is starring in the new movie adaptation of “The Great Gatsby.”

Oscar Isaac, who had a supporting role in 2011′s crime drama “Drive,” plays the lead character.

The film is based in part on a memoir by late folk singer Dave Van Ronk, entitled “The Mayor of MacDougall Street.”

Directors Joel and Ethan Coen’s previous movies include “Fargo,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” “Raising Arizona,” “The Big Lebowski,” and “No Country for Old Men,” which won a best picture Oscar in 2007.

Riverhead Town was paid $10,000 for the use of the two locations. Police set up roadblocks along nearby roads during the two shoots.

“Inside Llewyn Davis” was one of many television series and films to shoot in the Riverhead area recently.

Last March, another independent film, “El Cielo Es Azul” (The Sky is Blue), held movie shoots at several locations in Riverhead, including Cody’s BBQ and Grill and in September, a fishing show called “Lunkerville” shot scenes in Riverhead and Southold towns.

An upcoming television series also filmed at the A Cut Above hair salon in Aquebogue in October. In February, an independent film called “Gabriel” starring Rory Culkin, the brother of child star Macaulay Culkin, filmed on Ostrander Avenue near downtown Riverhead.

The HBO crime drama “Boardwalk Empire” shot scenes at a Calverton farm in 2011 for their season finale, and HBO’s “The Sopranos” filmed in Riverhead twice several years ago.

“Inside Llewyn Davis” will be released Dec. 6, according to media reports.

PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Film crews work a staging area outside an Ostrander Avenue home in Riverhead Tuesday morning.

An independent film starring Rory Culkin, the brother of child star Macaulay Culkin, is filming in Riverhead this week.

Rory Culkin

“Gabriel” is about a teenager, played by Mr. Culkin, who goes on a journey to find his first love, said producer Allison Carter. Crews began filming at an Ostrander Avenue house Monday and were continuing the shoot Tuesday morning.

The building is supposed to contain the Connecticut college apartment of the protagonist’s former flame, Ms. Carter explained.

“He comes to her apartment during winter break hoping to find her here,” she said.

The film, which is directed and written by Lou Howe, has been shooting across the tri-state area in New York City, Montauk, Connecticut and Sag Harbor over the past few months, Ms. Carter said. The shoot in Riverhead should wrap up Tuesday afternoon.

Ms. Carter said most of the crew isn’t from the area, but they have been enjoying their stay on the North Fork.

“The community is great,” she said. “Everyone has kind of welcomed us.”

The movie is the latest in a series of television series and films to shoot in the Riverhead area. Last year, the Coen Brothers filmed two scenes for their latest movie “Inside Llewyn Davis” at two properties in Riverhead. That film, set in the 1960s and featuring big-name Hollywood talent such as John Goodman of the “Big Lebowski” and Justin Timberlake of “The Social Network,” is due to be released later this year.

In March, another independent film, “El Cielo Es Azul” (The Sky is Blue), held movie shoots at several locations in Riverhead, including Cody’s BBQ and Grill and in September, a fishing show called “Lunkerville” shot scenes in Riverhead and Southold towns.

An upcoming television series also filmed at the A Cut Above hair salon in Aquebogue in October.

The HBO crime drama “Boardwalk Empire” shot scenes at a Calverton farm in 2011 for their season finale, and HBO’s “The Sopranos” filmed in Riverhead twice several years ago.

“Gabriel” will continue shooting over the next few months and is expected to be released in 2014.